What is Digg?183 Comments
- inactive, on 07/20/2008, -10/+11012 U.S. Soldiers died in Iraq this last week
US news topics this week...
Aretha may lose her Detroit mansion
New juicy pics of Senator's whore
Hulk Hogan's wife files for divorce
Polar Bear cubs are doing well
Cat survives 3 weeks crossing ocean
Large men in spandex die due to steriod abuse
Runaway bride's former groom reportedly marries another woman
Buddhist dog prays for worldly desires
Camels line up for Gulf beauty contest
------------------------
America builds more prisons than schools
America builds more prisons than ANY OTHER COUNTRY per capita.
America imprisons more of their citizens for non violent crimes than ANY OTHER COUNTRY per capita.
America manufactures and exports more weapons than ANY OTHER COUNTRY.
US news topics last week...
Soldier tosses puppy
Guy sleeping at Obama speech
Hillary's fake country accent
Pitbulls get second chance
Lindsay Lohan's drug problems
Redneck Skank still missing in Aruba
Martha Stewart, Back in Action
------------------------
Roughly 168,000 people died last week from hunger or hunger-related causes, almost 75% of them were children. About 800 million people haven’t enough food at this very moment. Roughly 40000 Africans died last week of Aids
Roughly 168,000 people will die this week from hunger or hunger-related causes, almost 75% of them will be children. Again, about 800 million people will not have enough food to eat. Roughly 40000 Africans will die this week of Aids
US news topics week before last...
Duke Lacrosse lawsuit
Anna Nicole's corpse
ACLU courting Pedophiles
Missing blond, blue-eyed British baby
Shark and Alligator attacks on the rise in Florida
McDonald's courting designers for hipper uniforms
Heath Ledger, still dead
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25st t - inactive, on 07/20/2008, -11/+100A practicing Democracy? You're kidding right?!
Largest prison population per capita IN THE WORLD!! America is so far from a free country it isn't even funny. And besides the corporate owned news networks making Americans some of the stupidest people on the planet, we also have the wire tapping and the rigged elections...I could go on but won't.
Just go ahead and believe the rhetoric about people 'hating freedom and democracy' fed to you by Bush and Fox News while the country continues its downward spiral into self-destruction. For your reference America has a conservative party with two right wings, known as the Republicans and Democrats. Neither one can provide long term answers when they focus on short term solutions to appease lobbyists. - mweber02, on 07/20/2008, -3/+70And now Congress is considering a blockade on Iran. I wonder what the reaction of the American public would be if a country more powerful than ours decided to set up blockades around all of our ports, and control the importation of food, oil, and other materials. How noble would the aggressor country's intentions have to be for us to accept, even welcome their actions? How long would it take for our political leaders to denounce such measures as an act of war against innocent civilians that must be combated at all costs? Does the fact that we have nuclear weapons that we have used in the past and threatened to use again justify such a scenario?
- bronowiczj, on 07/20/2008, -2/+65Critical thinking and open-mindedness are essential to any policy formation.... how long will it take our government to understand this?
- OmegaWolf, on 07/20/2008, -3/+55Welcome to our corporate oligarchy which masquerades as a democracy!
- pintomp3, on 07/21/2008, -0/+31they understand it perfectly. that's why they are trying to kill off public broadcasting and handing over more control to the corporate media. when reagan and clinton lifted media ownership restrictions, they weren't crusaders of the free market nor were they incompetent or short-sighted. they knew full well that democracy dies without an educated public. it makes it much easier to bomb countries that aren't favorable to american corporations if you have the corporate media to distract the public for you.
- inactive, on 07/20/2008, -2/+28Our gov does understand but over 80% have sold their souls to the World bank and IMF so as long as they keep doing what their handlers say the American people will have no say.
- user500, on 07/20/2008, -2/+23The day after it falls
- Skooma714, on 07/21/2008, -5/+24Critical thinking and open-mindedness is exactly what public schools were designed to crush.
And God help us for once they did something right. - ad33lshahid, on 07/21/2008, -3/+19FTA: Dean was roundly attacked by the political elite for uttering "anti-Israel" comments, notwithstanding the fact that Dean is married to a Jewish woman, raised his children as Jews, and, most amazingly of all, had a campaign that was managed by Steve Grossman, a former President of AIPAC. But no matter: Dean had uttered a Forbidden Thought (he said, "It's not our place to take sides." Then, on Sept. 9, he told the Washington Post that America should be "evenhanded" in its approach to the region.) -- forbidden even though it is embraced by the vast majority of Americans -- and thus Grossman and Dean had to subject themselves to abject Apology Rituals:
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -6/+22"how efficiently certain views that deviate from the elite consensus are banished from sight -- simply prohibited -- even when those views are held by the vast majority of citizens. This discrepancy is a potent commentary on how our democracy functions"
That's not democracy at all then, is it? - jedcred, on 07/21/2008, -3/+18Wow. An article so well-written that only the zealots and bigots can claim antisemitism in a plainly pro-American (as opposed to anti-Israel) view.
The government of Israel does not represent Jews around the world, nor is it an ethnic or religious body, as Jews, as a group, are. Instead, it is a government made up of the people of its nation; opinions critical of Israel are therefore a political statement and not automatically racist, bigoted, or antisemitic.
So, now can we talk about how the government of Israel has abused its protected status in the region during the past several decades?
Please? - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -1/+15Hell, even public education is constantly under attack by so-called defenders of the free market - which is odd, given that Thomas Jefferson, a firm believer in limited government and the free market by anyone's account, was one of the original champions of public education, believing that an educated populous was absolutely essential to maintaining any form of democracy.
- lead2thehead, on 07/21/2008, -1/+14This is because of the arrogance of our politicians. They're always sticking their noses (and our troops) where they don't belong. And the media is always right behind them, stirring up panic and reinforcing their stupid decisions.
- kaelyiesta, on 07/21/2008, -1/+13Are you kidding? Of course they understand this, thats why they dont want it. Sure some are naive or ignorant, but I'd bet money many intentionally play this game knowing full well the ***** they are propagating.
- deweyhewson, on 07/21/2008, -0/+12If you think the Bush Administration, as bad as they are, are the only ones furthering the elite agenda you are sadly mistaken.
The raping of America has been occurring long before Bush was even born - since around 1913, in fact - and will continue to progress until the American people turn off American Idol, get off their increasingly fat asses, and DO SOMETHING about it!
The truly sad thing is not that the elite have the power they do. There have always been those who seek to rise to power and control others for personal/corporate gain. No, the truly sad thing is that the American people do NOTHING about it, not even something as mundane - and ultimately worthless - as a protest, and nearly a majority of people actually prefer to live in ignorance of reality. - infiniphunk, on 07/21/2008, -0/+11sad but true, we are literally 'amusing ourselves to death'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_ ...
Everything has now become a joke. The media is successfully training mass consciousness to have a low attention-span and cynical, willful ignorance of important issues in our world. - rearlgrant, on 07/21/2008, -1/+11True.
I will add though I'm here and not on dailykos b/c even Aristotle realized the need for comic relief.
Just like almost anything, fluff has it's time and place in moderation.
I tend to get most of my news from NPR and independent Internet sources. I get my fluff listening to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" -- and I have to follow some of this stuff during the week so I can be prepared to answer.
I don't know how people can stand TV network news. - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -0/+10"The Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from the vision offered by Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, where people medicate themselves into bliss and voluntarily sacrifice their rights. Postman sees television's entertainment value as a "soma" for the contemporary world, and he sees contemporary mankind surrendering its rights in exchange for entertainment."
Ironic, anyone notice 90% of the ads on FOX fake news are big pharma?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_ ... - fixty, on 07/21/2008, -2/+12Where public opinion is irrelevant, democracy is dead.
- denizen42, on 07/21/2008, -0/+9At last, the fresh smell of truth!
- subgeniusd, on 07/21/2008, -0/+9http://www.infowars.com/
- hellahyphy, on 07/21/2008, -1/+10seriously!
- rz8472, on 07/21/2008, -2/+11Howard Dean was the most awesome candidate the Democrats had for 30 years. It was only typical that the establishment collude to bring him down. Sadly even Dennis Kucinich even jumped in on the action.
- algaeturd, on 07/21/2008, -3/+12I've thought the biggest change in social spirit since 9/11 is the way that the truth in america is now considered relative or unimportant altogether. There was a time that the truth was universal and omnipotent. And now, as any American can tell you, truth is relative somehow. It's a shame, really.
A country where the truth isn't all important or universally respected, that country isn't long for the world.
These days, it's all opinion and debate. You cannot debate the truth. It just is. And it can't be slanted, spun or changed.
I long for the day where the truth is important in this country again and is celebrated, whether it's what people want to hear or not. Truth was the one main thing that set us apart from other nations.
And people just don't care about empirical truths anymore. They want to hear what meshes with their beliefs rather than what just is, good or bad.
And the media is mostly guilty of ushering in this age of opinion vs. fact with their slants, spins and disinformation. Hope they're proud....they killed the one thing that set us apart from the animals we've always despised. - msheidi, on 07/21/2008, -2/+10Yeah, I think that is what the late great George Carlin was getting to. Unfortunately, we don't have a choice again this year.
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -0/+8To me, the problem lies in the mainstream media. The media used to represent the public opinion but not anymore. And since the mainstream public REFUSE to think for themselves, well, we got this mess where if you disagree with what the media is spreading you suddenly become a conspiracy theorist or an America hater (as O'Reilly puts it), what a subtle way to shut you up.
God bless the media, the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole ***** world. - fyngyrz, on 07/21/2008, -3/+11One small point; the democrats are not in power. They (barely) hold a majority, but the republicans have the office of the president on their side, and if he vetoes legislation, then it takes a lot more than a simple majority for that legislation to become law. So in terms of making laws, they're pretty well hamstrung. In terms of stopping the republicans from making laws, they're positioned well.
Now you have to assume that the entire pile of them, from both sides of the aisle (excepting Kucinich and Paul), aren't actually bought and paid for by PACs, etc. I find that assumption to be hard to buy, given their behavior.
Look at the recent FISA abortion; that was purest unconstitutional corporate dick-swallowing on the part of the congress and the president. All that remains to be found out is if the USSC/SCOTUS will oblige with a to-and-past-the-tonsils endorsement for the corporations, at the expense of the 4th amendment. Again. - rearlgrant, on 07/21/2008, -3/+11@10
I understand your point, but I'd argue it's the other way around. The soul of the World Bank and the IMF has been bought and paid for by the US. If the countries receiving aid were allowed to be part of the rule drafting process, there'd be real economic development with the funds, and not the "trickle down" and mercantile policies the two institutions have been pushing. - Hangly, on 07/21/2008, -0/+8You're both almost correct :P
The US government isn't beholden to business interests, they are the business interests.
There are only a tiny few actual statesmen or politicians in the US government, and they are easy to identify. The rest are the businesspeople who run the country like a corporation. - deweyhewson, on 07/21/2008, -1/+9If you think the Bush Administration, as bad as they are, are the only ones furthering the elite agenda you are sadly mistaken.
The raping of America has been occurring long before Bush was even born - since around 1913, in fact - and will continue to progress until the American people turn off American Idol, get off their increasingly fat asses, and DO SOMETHING about it!
The truly sad thing is not that the elite have the power they do. There have always been those who seek to rise to power and control others for personal/corporate gain. No, the truly sad thing is that the American people do NOTHING about it, not even something as mundane - and ultimately worthless - as a protest, and nearly a majority of people actually prefer to live in ignorance of reality. - DestroyFascism, on 07/21/2008, -0/+7Plastic waste in out oceans is expected to decrease the food supply by 40% in ten years, 80% in 30 years.
1 in 3 Albatross dies from plastic ingestion.
Plastic chemicals are making their way up the food chain as a result of the oceans becoming a "plastic soup",
Hawaii beaches, over 300,000 tonnes of plastic waste washes up in one year.
Plastic bags may wipe out marine turtles as 1 in 5 die from mistaking plastic bags as jelly fish.
Jelly fish stings and incidence of poisonous species increases in our oceans, 1 in 10 people hospitalized.
Fishermen blame sea lions for decreasing catch American EPA allows cull.
The real headlines are..
Brittany has argument with lawyer, sacks lawyer. - Terr01, on 07/21/2008, -0/+7@Hockey13:
It's not about state-run media, it's about monopolistic media. Remember, back when the US was founded the idea that someone could operate all the printing presses in an entire state was totally ludicrous--the communication and/or transporation technology was nowhere on the horizon.
The solution is NOT "state run" media (and I haven't heard anyone say so), and it's NOT "the fairness" doctrine. The solution is to return to aggressive policies preventing mass-ownership and busting trusts, which is of course extremely unpopular among the large transnational corporations which benefit from such control. - Pake, on 07/21/2008, -2/+9As long as it takes to get rid of the two party system.
- msheidi, on 07/21/2008, -6/+13We need to tend to our own problems. Leave other countries to tend to their own problems. Congress has a 9% approval rating. The Democrats are in power. Pelosi and Reid are failures.
The offshore oil drilling has been opened by the White House to put the ball on Congress' court. Yea, we need to find alternatives, but we also need to get to work every day. Not all of us can afford to go out and buy new cars and we don't qualify for govt handouts.
Tell the welfare recipients that they have 30 days notice which is more than most of the working class gets when they are laid off.
No legal job is shameful. GET TO WORK/ - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -0/+6This one's got a brain!
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -0/+6*facepalm* If you'd study history, you'd see that Thomas Jefferson was very much in favor of public education at the federal level, having seen that at the local level, many public schools were severely underfunded. In fact, his plan for public education was very unpopular because of its requirement of federal funding (and thus, taxpayer money). As I stated (perhaps simplistically, as I shouldn't have used the word 'democracy'), Thomas Jefferson supported federally funded public education, for though it went against his ideals, he felt it absolutely vital if our system of government was to survive.
- augustwest30, on 07/21/2008, -2/+8Just food for thought.... I think it is funny that reports like this assume the public knows what is best, but I am always seeing stories on Digg that also show how stupid the U.S. public is. I bet if you asked the same people in this survey to find Israel on a map, 71% wouldn't know where it is.
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -1/+7"Ask the average citizens on the street whether we are in a recession and they will say we are -- even though we are NOT. But, they have been pounded by the liberal media to believe something that is not true."
It's funny, because someone pounded THAT into YOUR head. - footodors, on 07/21/2008, -7/+12pssst....Israel is the cause of a lot of strife in the world!
- PhilLesh69, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5thecoolestguy,
not too many people know this fact. They heard it, and it keeps being repeated, so they believe that Ahmadenijad said that Israel should be wiped off the map.
They never hear the corrections, and apparently many journalists don't either.
It turns out, what he really said was that history would be better off if Israel never existed. That's a far cry from "israel should be wiped off the map", it is more a commentary of someone who has an opinion that the last 45 years of history might be different if Israel wasn't created by the balfour declaration.
And most people don't realize that until the Ashkenazi Jews (European Jews) arrived in Palestine, the Sephardic Jews and Palestinian Arabs lived together harmoniously, they intermarried, they worked farms together, they ran businesses together, they worked together in local and national governments, and got along. It was the European Jews after the Balfour declaration that came in with their European anger and prejudice who created all the turmoil and strife.
It's sad that so many people just sit on their couches munching on fritos and oreos, and consume the latest propoganda, and don't really know the real history of the world. - culbeda, on 07/21/2008, -3/+8Correction: ...which masquerades as a democratic republic.
- BBWolf, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5Between the two available there is not one whit of difference. While McCain and Obama expound upon every topic under the sun, its all for the audience...none of it means anything to them. Its all about getting elected; Getting in Power, because they are Both in the same club, and you and I ain't on the guest list.
I mean that Literally. McCain and Obama go on CFR retreats together, along with bush, Quail, the Clintons, Bernanke, the whole frigging mess of them...Truth. They may seem to fight for the cameras, but they all belong to the same country club...Its Business. Its all a show and a sham. Two sides of the same coin. The only thing that will change is the voice; the message will be the same. Shut up, sit down, do what we tell you, and pay your taxes. - sapphire9488, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5I know quite well that the government doesn't give a damn about popular opinion here in America (or what citizens really want and need), but the article was very interesting focusing on the public view of the middle east. A lot of the poll results surprised me. I suspected that the majority of citizens believe that Iran has nuclear weapons now, but knowing it for fact confirms my worries. Politicians and the media use so much propaganda and fear mongering to get us on their side, it's disgusting and so harmful. Those at the top here and abroad are pushing so hard for war with Iran, it's really scary.
Our elected officials don't use public opinions to guide their decisions or speak out for us, only to campaign and help their image. They'll only go along with something if it benefits them, their party, or their friends in high places. - quesi, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5Revolution
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -2/+6Meanwhile, some idiot inbred Bush voting hick is sayin', "I'm sure glad 'da Terrists, isn't attackin' ma' wuudshed!"
- GorfTron, on 07/21/2008, -3/+7GET IN MY BELLY!!!!
- infiniphunk, on 07/21/2008, -0/+4"If our political leaders were threatening annihilation of israel how long until our citizens would step up and say cut the ***** out"
pretty long - PopcornDave, on 07/21/2008, -1/+5When Satan forms a professional hockey league in Hell.
- Hockey13, on 07/21/2008, -3/+7Ok slow down. What you're saying is that you want the government to have state-run media because you trust them more than the corporations? First, let's not assume anymore that the internet isn't a major shift in how people receive information. What if in 15 years most Americans use sites like Digg or Wikipedia or any of the millions of other great sites out there that aren't CNN or FoxNews? Maybe people will get smarter? Who knows.
Second, @macweirdo42, I believe Thomas Jefferson stressed for strong public education system at a local level, not at the Federal level. Thomas Jefferson was a champion of a small r republican system of checks and balances and descending levels of power from local to state to national that is represented in the original Constitution, not a democracy. -
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